REUTERS
The number of complaints against teachers for meting out corporal punishment, sexually abusing their pupils and assaulting their co-workers on school grounds, is climbing.
The number of complaints against teachers for meting out corporal punishment, sexually abusing their pupils and assaulting their co-workers on school grounds, is climbing.
The South African Council of Educators (Sace), the professional body which registers all the country’s teachers, probed 525 misconduct cases between April 2011 and March 2012, it said in its annual report presented to Parliament last week.
By comparison, there were 440 complaints lodged with the council in the 2011/2010 financial year, and 265 in the 2010/2009 reporting year.
The bulk of the 525 cases, which included fraud, theft, victimisation, absenteeism and alcohol abuse, were in the Western Cape (174), Gauteng (103), and KwaZulu-Natal (84).
The council viewed the surge in the total number of complaints as a “sharp increase”, particularly where corporal punishment (174 cases), and the “rife” sexual abuse of pupils (126 cases) was concerned.
However, because South Africa has nearly 400 000 teachers (90 000 in KZN) there was an argument that incidents of abuse were under-reported.
The council is tasked with enforcing the code of conduct among South Africa’s teaching corps, and it has the power to strike transgressors off the roll.
By law, the provincial education departments are obliged to report their finalised disciplinary cases to the council, which conducts its own separate investigations.
The public may approach the council directly with a complaint.
Coincidentally last week, a second report, tabled in the KZN legislature, revealed that in the third quarter of this year, the KZN education department was dealing with 367 “serious” new offences .
Of these, 169 were related to fraudulently claiming social grants and 70 for irregularly owning low-cost homes.
KZN education department spokesman Muzi Mahlambi said victims of corporal punishment were reluctant to come forward because they were unaware of their rights, and that the families of sexual abuse victims were bribed by the perpetrators.
“There is under-reporting,” Mahlambi said.
Nikki Stein from the NGO, Section 27, contended the same.
And, despite the council having reduced its case turnaround time from 20 to 11 months, Stein added that the council and the provincial education departments were dragging their heels.
“Our biggest problem is the number of different institutions involved. Sace, the department, and the police operate in [isolation].
“Having to give three separate statements for three separate hearing multiplies the trauma,” Stein said.
